Introduction

I thought these statistics could be interesting for climbers. Here are some climate statistics for several mountains in the United States (arranged from coldest to warmest for lack of any better way to do it).

There are only a few mountain tops with weather statistics and most of them are located in the Eastern USA. There have been at one time several peaks in the Western US with weather data, but few of the weather stations below are currently operating, though the data is still available if you dig hard enough for it.

Temperatures

Denali is not surprisingly by far the coldest of all the mountain tops in the United States. In fact, during summer Denali is still colder than any location in the lower 48 is during winter. It is also the coldest place in the world outside Antarctica.

Obviously Mount Rainier is by far the coldest of all these mountain tops in the lower 48. Interestingly though, Mount Rainier is about the same temperature in winter as Pikes Peak or Mount Washington. It is however, much colder in summer.

Mount Evans and Pikes Peak are much farther south than Mount Rainier, but I assume that the Pacific air on Mount Rainier keeps the mountain “milder”, temperature wise in winter than it would otherwise be. Mount Rainier is by far a much wetter and stormier mountain (precipitation wise) than Pikes Peak. Average annual precipitation at the summit is around 85 inches, which is significantly lower than the average of 117 inches of precipitation at Paradise Ranger Station at 5500 feet. Mount Washington averages near 99 inches, but the summers are too “warm” for glaciers to form. Locations such as White Mountain Peak (California), White Mountain 2 (California), Pikes Peak (Colorado), and Climax/Fremont Pass (Colorado) sit in rain shadows, and are thus very dry considering the altitude. The mountains around Alta and Snowbird (such as Mount Baldy with an estimated average annual snowfall of 732 inches) Utah are probably the snowiest locations in the Rocky Mountains and snowfall compares well to the snowiest locations in the Cascades, though water content is much lower, and permanent snow and glaciers are almost non-existent, with only a few small remnants remaining.

White Mountain Peak in California is colder than Mt Washington on average, but is a little warmer than Mount Washington in winter. It is still warmer than one might expect, but part of that may be attributed to the fact that temperatures in the area have been on the hot side since data has been available. White Mountain 2 at a lower elevation is almost as cold as Mount Washington. However, it is also “warmer” in winter and cooler in the summer than Mount Washington.

Mount Mitchell is much warmer than these other peaks, but interestingly the all time record low (-34) is almost as cold as the other locations (except Denali). Mount Washington has recorded temperatures down to -47, Mount Evans down to -40, Pikes Peak down to -39, Mount Mansfield down to -39, Mount Rainier down to -36, and White Mountain 2 down to -35. All these mountains only have a span of 13 degrees between their all time record lows.

As far as extremes on Denali go, an old minimum gauge thermometer left on the summit of plunged to -95. Since the thermometer sat on the ground, it isn't official, but temperatures have been thought to drop at least to -77. Another thermometer was placed at 15,000 feet by the U.S. Army Natick Laboratory, and was there from 1950 to 1969. The coldest temperature recorded during that period was −100. In the summer, it is likely that the summit never reaches freezing.

Records for Mount Mitchell, Mount Washington, and Mount Mansfield span many decades, while the other mountains have record for much less time. The longest period for a Western US mountain belongs to White Mountain 2 where data was collected for 25 years. Some of the mountain passes in Colorado have records for longer than this. If you count Western Texas as part of the Western US, Mount Locke has a very long period of record, but it isn't as high as many other mountains in the Western US. It is about as high as the highest mountains in the Eastern US though and makes an interesting comparison.

Annual Temperatures:

PEAK

STATE

ANNUAL

ELEVATION

Denali

AK

-28.0

20,320

Mount Rainier

WA

11.9

14,411

Mount Evans

CO

18.0

14,148

Pikes Peak

CO

18.8

14,115

Uinta Mountains

UT

20.0

13,123

White Mountain Peak

CA

23.3

14,252

Camp Muir

WA

26.4

10,110

Mount Washington

NH

27.2

6288

White Mountain 2

CA

27.5

12,470

Berthoud Pass

CO

29.1

11,310

Climax (Fremont Pass)

CO

30.1

11,360

Mount Baldy

UT

30.5

11,068

Mount Mansfield

VT

34.3

4393

Blowhard Mountain

UT

34.6

10,700

Mount Fanny

OR

35.8

7020

Mauna Kea

HI

36.3

13,796

Mount Spokane

WA

36.6

5890

Mount La Conte

TN

42.7

6593

Mount Mitchell

NC

44.6

6634

Mauna Loa Slope

HI

44.7

11,140

Grandfather Mountain

NC

46.3

5945

Haleakala

HI

46.7

9960

Mount Locke

TX

58.0

6790

Wind Speed

Unfortunately, wind speed data is hard to obtain for most of these mountains. Of all these mountains, Mount Washington is the only one with long term wind data.

Other than wind data for Mount Washington, I could also find it for Pikes Peak, Mount Evans, and Longs Peak in Colorado, plus Camp Muir in Washington. Longs Peak and Mount Washington are about the same in wind speed and both are significantly windier than Pikes Peak. Mount Evans compares fairly well with Longs Peak and Mount Washington, but the extreme wind speeds are much lower. Mount Rainier might be the windiest place in the lower 48, but average wind speeds come from an interpolation, rather than measured data.

Mount Washington had a record wind gust of 231 mph in April 1934. Longs Peak had a record wind gust of 201 mph in 1981, but the station only lasted a short time. During the period of record, Pikes Peak had an estimated maximum wind gust of 150 mph, but the anemometer blew away 112 mph. Mount Evans has recorded wind speeds of 123 mph (some sources report a gust of 150+ mph, but I can't find when this was recorded), which is significantly less than that of Mount Washington or Longs Peak, but the period of record for the maximum wind gust was only 1994-1996. Had the period of record been longer, the maximum wind gust would likely be higher. 2000 feet lower than Longs Peak, Trail Ridge, north of Longs Peak has recorded gusts of 157 mph, also in 1981. Hidden Peak (Utah) next to Mount Baldy has recorded wind speeds of 124 mph, but wind readings are only taken sporadically. Supposedly Grandfather Mountain recorded a 200 mph wind gust in January 2006, but this is not an official figure since the roof of the building on which the gauge was placed was suspected to have an amplifying effect. The highest official wind speed on Grandfather Mountain was 121 mph in December 2012. Computer models have predicted that maximum wind gust on Denali have exceeded 300 mph (such as during the storm that wiped out the Wilcox Expedition), but of course such a figure is a calculated estimate rather than an actual measurement.

Unfortunately, Long Peak doesn’t have any temperature data compiled; only wind, so wind chills are hard to compare. More than likely, Long Peak is similar in temperatures to Pikes Peak, but a few degrees colder.

The Camp Muir data comes from actual data from the weather station at Camp Muir, but no period of record is given. The Mount Rainier wind data is an interpolation of the Camp Muir data.

Grandfather Mountain must have data for average wind speed somewhere, but I have been unable to find it.

It seems no wind data is available for the other summits listed below. It would be interesting to see how windy the other high peaks in the Cascades or California are compared with the Rockies or Appalachians.

Peak

Average Wind Speed

Mount Rainier

36.3

Mount Washington

35.3

Longs Peak

34.3

Mount Evans

31.5

Pikes Peak

21.2

Camp Muir

20.5

Denali, Alaska (20,320 feet)

Month

Ave High

Ave Low

Rec High

Rec Low

JAN

-33

-43

?

-77

JUL

-3

-13

30

-23

Source: Statistics are from the book Skywatch West by Richard A Keen, page 247 and are based on weather balloon data. Unfortunately only January and July info is available. The -23F figure for July comes from the Weather Station located at 19,000 feet.

Mount Rainier, Washington (14,411 feet)

Month

High

Low

Precip (in)

JAN

7

-3

13.08

FEB

9

-2

8.54

MAR

11

-2

9.83

APR

17

2

6.97

MAY

22

6

4.04

JUN

26

10

3.20

JUL

33

15

1.35

AUG

32

14

1.28

SEP

28

12

3.18

OCT

20

7

6.63

NOV

14

2

13.53

DEC

8

-2

13.29

Source: National Park Service, courtesy of University of Washington.

Period of Record: Various studies from 1960 to present. The most current study ended in 2016. Precipitation estimates are from Prism Data.

Mount Evans, Colorado (14,148 feet)

Annual

Rec High

Rec Low

18.0

65

-40

Source: Meyer-Womble Observatory, University of Denver Observatories. Unfortunately, only annual temperature and records are given.

Period of Record: 1991 to present.

Pikes Peak, Colorado (14,115 feet)

Month

Ave High

Ave Low

Rec High

Rec Low

Average Days of Precipitation

Precip (in)

Jan

8

-4

30

-37

9 days of snow

1.56

Feb

11

-3

29

-37

9-10 days of snow

1.39

Mar

14

-1

43

-29

10 days of snow

2.11

Apr

20

5

39

-21

12-13 days of snow

3.78

May

28

14

47

-8

17 days of snow; some rain

3.68

Jun

39

25

63

2

9 days of snow; 9 days of hail

1.77

Jul

48

34

64

18

7 days of snow; 15 days of hail or rain

4.46

Aug

48

33

62

15

9 days of snow; 19 days of hail or rain

3.92

Sep

39

24

55

6

10 days of snow; 5 days of hail or rain

1.77

Oct

28

14

47

-17

8-9 days of snow

1.41

Nov

16

4

36

-36

9-10 days of snow

1.84

Dec

11

-3

30

-39

10-11 days of snow

1.49

Other info: Pikes Peak averages 29.7 inches of precipitation and 553 inches of snow per year.

Source: United States Army Signal Corps; courtesy of Larry Dunn. Annual "other info" stats above are from the book Skywatch West by Richard A Keen, page 248. Extremes came from the Bulletin, Part 3 from the United States Weather Bureau.

Period of Record: 1873-1888 and sporadically in recent years. Daily highs and lows are currently being taken again on the site below:

Source: Remote sensor 1998-present(?). May not be operating currently-I can't find it online anymore? The nearby weather station at the top of the Collins Lift at 10,443 (625 lower than Mount Baldy) is still operating and has wind speed data too. Next to Mount Baldy and only 75 feet lower, Hidden Peak also has a weather station that records current temperatures, at least during ski season. Snowfall statistics are estimates for Hidden Peak at Snowbird Ski Resort. See also pg. 19 of Utah's Weather and Climate (1996). Pg 19 November through April snowfall for Snowbird Summit (Hidden Peak, ~11,000 feet) = 634 inches.

Source: Both the Western Regional Climate Center and the Hawaii Atlas have weather data for Mauna Kea. Unfortunately, the data averages from either source does not match well. The data from the atlas was here used because it is the most complete. Aveage precip values are higher and low temperatures lower than the WRCC averages, which only includes data from a short time span. The all time records were taken from the WRCC, but several values in the database have been deemed inaccurate (such as the oft report record low of 12F in May 17 1979) and were thus purged from the above report.